


regrets, and not

by helsinkibaby



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Community: comment_fic, F/M, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-17
Updated: 2015-05-17
Packaged: 2018-03-31 00:27:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3957580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maria and Rhodey wake up in Las Vegas with the hangover from hell and some new jewellery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	regrets, and not

**Author's Note:**

> For comment fic theme: minor characters  
> Prompt: just what did we do last night?

When she first wakes up, it takes Maria a moment to realise that the Mexican mariachi band she can hear is not, in fact, marching through the hotel room, nor is there one outside in the hallway. No, the pounding of one thousand feet is merely marching in jackboots through her head and it only gets worse the longer her eyes are open. Screwing her eyes closed against the bright sunshine creeping through the crack in the curtains, she can't stop the groan that escapes her lips and beside her, there's a rueful chuckle. 

"Guess you've got the kettle drums too?" 

She opens one eye a crack, turns her head gingerly to meet Rhodey's gaze, grateful when neither the room nor her stomach spins. He looks as bleary eyed as she feels, but there is at least a rueful smile hovering around his lips. "Try the entire orchestra," she says. "Just what did we do last night?"   

"Vegas with Tony Stark, baby." Rhodey's voice carries the tone of one who's had this experience before, and if he has, Maria's going to kick his ass because he really should have warned her.  "That's how he rolls on his birthday." 

Maria remembers Tony saying something like that last night; she thinks it was somewhere between the second magnum of champagne and ordering a round for the entire nightclub. She'd considered switching to water then and there; now she regrets not having followed her instincts. "Never again."

Rhodes actually chuckles. "That's what they all say." Maria lifts an eyebrow; he continues with his train of thought, blissfully unconcerned. That settles it; she's definitely going to kick his ass, just as soon as she can move without her head threatening to explode.  "I still can't believe Pepper let him organise it."

Maria snorts, which turns into one more regret to add to the list. When she recovers, she asks, "Why do you think he planned it when she was out of the country?" She'd been on the receiving end of a long phone call when Pepper found out, the other woman not being best pleased with the whole affair. Maria had done her best to placate her while at the same time denying all knowledge, and though it seems foolish now, she even remembers asking, "How bad can it be, really?" 

She should never have been so naive. 

"At least there were no killer robots this time," Rhodey says, frowning as he shifts slightly. "That's something, right?" He shifts again and she frowns too. 

"You ok?" 

He purses his lips, wiggles his shoulder blades. "Back's a little sore." He sits up, swings his legs over the side of the bed and Maria bites her lip to keep back a gasp. She's evidently not quick enough because he turns his head and quirks an eyebrow, his grin spreading as fast as the flush on her cheeks. "I take it from that reaction that this is exactly what it feels like?" He knows it is and when she doesn't reply, he chuckles. "I'm surprised we were capable," he murmurs and she doesn't disagree, reaching out to trace the livid scratch marks she had apparently inflicted. 

When her hand touches his skin, she freezes and she must make some sort of noise because he twists sharply to look at her. 

"What?" 

Then he catches sight of what made her freeze, the thin band of gold on her left hand. His jaw drops and he looks down, and then she sees, as if in slow motion, him raising his left hand, staring at the matching band shining there. 

"Oh." 

They stare at one another for what seems like a very long time before Maria discovers she can now move and she goes straight into operative mode, standing and crossing to the table, picking up the piece of paper lying there. Sure enough, it's a marriage certificate, with their names and their signatures, all completely legal and above board. She stifles another groan, lets the paper float down to the table as she squeezes the bridge of her nose. 

"Are you freaking out over there?" 

Rhodey's question makes her stare at him. "How are you not, Jim?" she demands. "We got married. In Vegas. Drunk." 

He's quiet for a long moment before he speaks. "I dunno." He shrugs and he's using that quiet voice that she's only heard him use a handful of times, the one that means he's very serious, that he really means what he's about to say. He used it the first time he ever asked her out, he used the first time they ever woke up together, he used it the night he carried her into her apartment after she'd spent an hour picking glass out of her feet when a Tony Stark party had gone horribly wrong. "I guess I just figured we'd get here someday. Maybe not like this... but somehow."

A sensation she's not sure she can name begins to unfurl deep in Maria's stomach. "You did?" She crosses the room, drops down onto the bed beside him and he nods as he takes her hand in his. 

"You didn't?" She keeps her face blank, because she'd honestly never thought about it and he continues, "Maria, look at us... Think about our lives. Who on the outside is going to believe us when we talk about our days... when we have to take off at a moment's notice and we can't tell them where we're going or when we'll be back...who else knows what it's like to live with the secrets we live with?" He squeezes her hand, brings it to his lips. "And besides, I happen to be in love with you. So yeah... I've considered it."

The sensation that had started in her stomach slowly rises into her chest and into her cheeks, a flush of warmth that threatens to take her breath away, along with the knowledge that she's just been given something she didn't know she wanted until right this minute. For a woman who's made it her career to know just what to say in every situation, she suddenly can't speak so she leans over and kisses him instead. His free hand moves to the back of her head, holds her in place for a moment before it slides down her back and when he pulls away from her, he is smiling. 

"I take it that's a yes then? Because I'm sure there's a judge somewhere who'd annul this for us..." 

He's teasing, because that kiss would have told him all he needed to know, but it's nice, because one thing Rhodey's always been able to do is make her smile. She does that now as she pushes him onto his back, positions herself on top of him. His hands find her hips and she can feel the ring on his finger, strange against the familiar touch of his hand on her skin. It sends a shiver down on her spine. "Then let's make sure non-consummation is off the table."


End file.
